Lost Planet 2 (Xbox 360, PS3) Review

Posted by Trace Aber on 05.27.2010

The snow has melted on E.D.N. III and the Akrid are bigger than ever, but is this sequel enough to live up to the first one?


Game: Lost Planet 2
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Players: 1-16
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Rated T for Teen

In 2007, Capcom released Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions to commercial success and mixed reviews. But what matters most is the critical success, as the original Lost Planet has gone on to sell 2.8 million units, and for a while held the record for the most downloaded demo on Xbox Live. Featuring extremely impressive visuals for the time, as well as epic boss battles, it’s not hard to see why people immediately wanted a sequel. Three years later, they got one, but is the new game as impressive and epic as the original?

Lost Planet 2 returns players to E.D.N. III, ten years after the events of the first game, though E.D.N. III has changed quite considerably. The snow that we all became familiar with in the first game has melted away and underneath the white covering was a beautiful tropical paradise, filled with lush jungles and waterfalls. You’ll also encounter cities, deserts, and in some locations the snow remains, so the world itself is quite gorgeous. It’s one of the high points of this game, which for the most part come few and far between.

The plot revolves around a civil war on E.D.N. III in which everyone is trying to gain thermal energy, also known as T-ENG. There are more pirate factions fighting for T-ENG than in the first one, while NEVEC (a military organization, so you know they’re bad) are looking to take advantage of the Cat-G Akrid for their precious thermal energy. And, since they are the government, their goals could end up destroying the planet. This story is broken up into six different episodes and take place from the perspective of the Yuri Snow Pirates and even NEVEC, among other various groups who are trying to screw over the Akrid. While the idea of different perspectives and multiple factions sounds fun and intriguing, it’s more confusing and disappointing than anything else. The story ranges from bland to predictable to downright offensive (towards the end, anyways) and isn’t nearly as satisfying as it should be.



The Akrid themselves are, to their credit, bigger and badder than the last game. While there’s not a huge variety of your standard enemies, the boss battles are still pretty epic and will provide plenty of “Oh crap!” moments when you realize your enemies is taller than the tallest building. Be prepared to die, a lot, and be prepared to get knocked down and never get back up, much like the original game. This wouldn’t be that big of a deal if the game offered you more save points. And by more, I mean more than one per episode. You must complete an episode before you can save again, and with some of these missions taking quite some time and being difficult (or completely unfair), it can get extremely frustrating. When you finally tackle the big boss down you don’t leave feeling satisfied, you leave tired and angry.

That brings us to one of the game’s most talked about features – the fact that the entire campaign is four-player co-op. When you can find three other competent players, the game can be quite fun and damn-near rewarding. Luckily, the online community is thriving as of now, but without that community this game goes back to being frustrating. The artificial intelligence in this game is awful at best, and a joke at worst. Most of the time your AI-controlled team will go the wrong way or do the wrong thing, and sometimes they just stand there as you’re battling a gigantic monster. If you plan on picking this game up, be sure to have three friends willing to go through it with you.




Of course, make sure those same friends can join from the start of the mission or they’re going to be waiting for a while. That’s right – you can’t just jump in on co-op, which is just stupid and a poor decision on Capcom’s part. On top of that, while most of the missions seem pretty simple (leave this area and go to this area), for the most part they are poorly explained and sometimes not mentioned at all and you’re left on your own to figure out what to do. Then there’s the problem of setting a game up. Even if you’re playing alone, you have to set up a lobby and assign computer-controlled partners, which doesn’t make any sense to me if you’re playing alone. The menu system used throughout the game is overly complex and it seems like they wanted to make the game appear deeper than it actually is.

Controls are another problem for this game, and considering everything else wrong with it, this game could have used some good controls. While there have been plenty of games that have managed to make good use of the controller for third-person shooters, but Lost Planet 2 decides to take the path less travelled and make a horrible control scheme. Many buttons have multiple functions assigned to them (B, for example, runs, melees, and activates) and the animation of these functions are more irritating than useful. And if you plan on activating data posts, which you will be doing plenty of, you will spend far too much time smashing the B button. If you plan on hopping in a Vital Suit (VS, or mechs), be prepared to sit for a good while as it activates. I understand that a highly sophisticated vital suit such as the ones featured would probably take more than two seconds to start up, but this is a video game and sometimes, it’s ok to leave the realism out. Especially when realism leads to sitting around wishing you were playing the game instead.

The multiplayer features only a few changes from the original one, though it doesn’t live up to the standard that other shooters have set in the last year or two. Like most of the game, the multiplayer maps are beautiful and it’s always fun to mess around with the grappling hook or jump in a VS, but when you have poor controls and a lack of balance, that fun only lasts so long. That, and most battles end up being a race to the VS. To the multiplayer mode’s benefit, there are tons of customization options, and this can give players plenty of tactical advantages if equipped right, and even tactical disadvantages if equipped wrong. To its credit, this may be the most in-depth portion of the entire experience.



The 411
Lost Planet 2 is a disappointing sequel that is inferior to the original. The controls are poor and confusing, the story is not interesting, and the artificial intelligence is far from intelligent. Outside of the beautiful landscape that you will explore, there’s little to enjoy as you battle the Akrid for T-ENG. The only redeeming quality this game has is the multiplayer experience, but there are far better options out there and you’ll quickly grow tired of it too, even with all of the customization available.

Pros
-Gorgeous landscapes to explore
-High character customization
-The idea of playing the story from multiple perspectives

Cons
-Poor control scheme
-Lack of save points
-The execution of playing the story from multiple perspectives
-Poor explanation of mission objectives
-Lack of balance in multiplayer
-Awful artificial intelligence

Graphics	9.0	Easily the best part of the game, the world is just beautiful
Gameplay	5.0	Poor controls, worse mission details, and just awful AI.
Sound	6.5	A mixed bag, though you won't hear too much music for the first half of the game. The sound effects are good, however.
Lasting Appeal	4.0	It seems as though Capcom wanted to make sure you didn't play this game - few save points, poor gameplay, and bad mechanics
Fun Factor	3.0	This game just isn't that fun. Most of these points are for the multiplayer, which even then doesn't hold a candle to the other experiences out there.
Overall	5.5   [ Not So Good ]

Screenshots
All 17 Lost Planet 2 Screenshots